The idea of a composting toilet might elicit a certain kind of response among most of us: Hesitation, averson or even repulsion. Why? Perhaps because anything poo-related is just gross. Flush and forget is our mode of choice. But, we also might have a notion of composting toilets that is antiquated. Nowadays, the technology is such that you can hardly distinguish between a toilet that is flushing gallons of fresh drinking water away with our waste (that can be quite valuable by the way) and one that uses none and instead turns our waste into fodder for plant growth. When it comes to the composting toilet, it might be time to set aside our preconceived notions and ask, are composting toilets the toilets of the future?

Maybe you have toyed with the idea of going off grid, but how about off pipe? Here are five reasons we’re considering the composting toilet as the goldmine of the modern bathroom’s future:

1. Because composting toilets keep human excrement out of the household wastewater, the remaining greywater from the kitchen, shower and washing machine can also be used to water lawns and trees.

2. Composting toilets use little or no water. A “normal” toilet adds up to 5 gallons of pure drinking water to an ounce or so of waste so it can be flushed into an expensive septic or sewer system, where it is treated. The American Water Works Association Research Foundation finds that over 30 percent of household water use is just for flushing toilets. What a waste!

3. For centuries human waste has been composted and used as fertilizer in China and the same land is still being farmed, while in America after a few decades of chemical fetrilizers, large areas of land have become sterile. Composting toilets have the power to kill the pathogens in human excrement that spread disease while creating fertilizer, simultaneously!